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In Miami’s competitive dining scene, struggling restaurants rarely survive by becoming more ambitious. More often, they play it safe: cutting corners, chasing trends, and serving the same dishes as everyone else.
Chefs Pedro and Katherine Mederos, the husband-and-wife team behind Kojin, almost fell into that trap. “For a while there, we got boring,” Pedro says.
It’s a startling admission from a chef who first made his name serving inventive French-Japanese fusion, self-described as “punk rock in a jazz bar,” through a pop-up and later from an eight-seat counter tucked behind a Little River ramen shop. That tiny restaurant eventually evolved into Kojin 2.0 in Coral Gables, earning a loyal following and Michelin Guide recommendations two years in a row.
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A chance for reinvention
As the restaurant approached its second anniversary, however, the pressure of keeping the lights on had slowly pushed the couple away from the creativity that defined Kojin from the start. “There came a point where we looked at each other and said, ‘Dude, we’re miserable. Do we keep taking the safe route? Or do we go out swinging?'” They chose to swing. “We’ve reached two years. If I’m going to fucking die, I’m going to die my way. I’m going to die by the sword,” Pedro jokes.
The result is what the couple affectionately calls their “second album.” The new menu, launched last week to mark Kojin’s second anniversary, is their most personal yet, showcasing a restaurant that’s finally stopped worrying about labels and started cooking like itself.
“It’s taken us two years,” Pedro says. “But we’re finally finding our voice.”
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Kojin’s second act
Pedro no longer sees the restaurant through the French-Japanese lens that defined Kojin when it first opened. Part of that shift came from watching Miami’s own dining scene mature. “I don’t think the dining scene has ever been this exciting,” he says, pointing to chefs like Michael Beltran, Jeremy Ford and a growing wave of independent restaurants helping define Miami’s new culinary identity.
Rather than looking elsewhere for inspiration, Pedro realized Kojin should reflect the city around it. “We’re taking the influences of our training, what’s local to us and who’s coming through the door,” he says. “From a food standpoint, everything is technical and completely dialed in. From a hospitality standpoint, I’m treating you like you’re in my house, and there’s nothing more Miami than that.”
Instead of flying fish halfway around the world from Japan every day as they once did, the team is relying more on local seafood and Florida produce, giving it the signature Kojin spin.
A menu that tastes more like Miami
A great example of the reimagined menu is the new summer crudo. Most restaurants in Miami serve crudo with citrus and soy combinations, so instead, Pedro imagined treating raw snapper like a dessert with caramelized evaporated milk and cacao honey, blurring the line between sweet and savory in a way that feels unmistakably Kojin. Katherine, the restaurant’s pastry chef, took the idea further with a generous dollop of lemon sorbet.
Pedro points to another favorite: “Tongue in Cheek,” his elevated take on meat and potatoes. Smoked beef cheek is layered with pastrami-style beef tongue, a rich bordelaise sauce, caramelized potato foam and a confit potato finished in smoked butter. The result feels comforting and familiar, but it’s made from cuts of beef that are entirely unexpected.
“I want people to sit down, eat something and say, ‘Oh… that’s Kojin,'” he says. Unfortunately for devoted fans, that search for originality also explains why some of Kojin’s most popular dishes don’t always survive. The “Flanigan’s Caesar” salad that everyone raved about on social media? Gone. The beloved short rib? Gone, too.
The duo follows advice they once received from another chef: Once you can execute a dish perfectly every single time, it’s probably time to take it off the menu. That philosophy helps keep them creative, even if it occasionally breaks a few hearts. “It’s like a hostage negotiation,” Pedro laughs. “People beg me, ‘You can’t take that off the menu. Please don’t do it.'”
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What’s next for Kojin
Now that Kojin has found its footing, Pedro and Katherine are focused on deepening the experience rather than expanding it.
The restaurant recently secured its full liquor license, and the couple is working on a cocktail program developed with the same obsessive attention as its food. That means house fermentations, carefully developed syrups and nonalcoholic pairings that stand on their own rather than simply imitating cocktails.
Another welcome return is weekend brunch, one of Kojin’s most beloved offerings during its first year, which the couple plans to bring back now that the restaurant has settled into its new identity.
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Building something bigger
Looking ahead, Pedro and Katherine hope Kojin becomes something bigger than a restaurant.
The Mederos credit mentors like restaurateur Matt Kuscher with teaching them everything culinary school never could, from negotiating leases and managing food costs to the realities of running a business. Soon, they hope to pay it forward by mentoring the next generation of chefs. They plan to do so by opening a retail space selling professional cookbooks, knives, whetstones, and specialty equipment aspiring cooks often struggle to find in Miami. “The goal is to help build the next generation of independent restaurants,” explains Pedro.
As for Kojin itself, the mission has become more difficult to define. “We’re striving for something we don’t even know how to define yet,” he says. “We’re chasing a fucking dragon.”
Two years ago, Kojin almost became just another restaurant trying to survive. Today, it’s chasing something much harder: being unapologetically itself.
Kojin. 804 Ponce de Leon Blvd., Coral Gables; 786-747-1404; kojin2.com.
